Rubbish
by The Almighty Leprechaun
Summary: Peggy Carter takes a closer look at the SOE file Thompson has on her and finds something shocking. AU


**This is a prequel to an AU story. Thanks for reading!**

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"This covers your activities in June, 1944." Jack handed Peggy the file.

She didn't believe that it was real for one moment. First off, she was not working for the SOE during 1944. By then she had transferred to the SSR to help Captain Rodgers and the Commandos take down the axis powers.

"It must be a forgery," she proclaimed. Peggy didn't even need to look at the file to contradict Thompson's claim.

Jack shook his head, "I don't believe that."

Peggy scowled. She did not have time for this garbage or Vernon Masters' agenda. "During the witch hunt that Vernon Masters has sent you on did you ever, perhaps, read my file?"

"I did, and it looked a lot like that." He indicated the heavily redacted file in her hands.

She glanced at the report once more before staring Thompson in the eye. "If you did read my file then you would have known that I left the SOE for the SSR in 1943 to work on Project Rebirth."

He raised a brow and handed her the small device. "I know what I saw. The file is not a forgery Carter."

She yanked the black rectangle out and held it over the portion of the page that Jack was talking about. It had to be a fake. She was never a supervising agent, and when they did talk about her in the SOE files they always referred to her as M. E. Carter.

"It's a fake, Jack." She shook her head. "Vernon Masters must have forged an SOE file somehow. You can't believe everything he puts in front of you!"

Thompson strolled towards her and grabbed the file out of her hand. "It's not, Carter. Believe it or not, but I do have some connections of my own. This file came from the SOE archives."

She narrowed her gaze. "It's just not possible. I was not an active SOE agent in 1944."

"Well unless you know another M. Carter that worked for British Intelligence then I don't know what to say Carter." Jack smirked briefly. He thought he had her.

"Let me see that!" she snatched the file out of his hand and flipped to the last page. Her heart skipped a beat when she found the redacted signature of the supervising SOE agent. M. P. Carter. She didn't know what she expected to find, but it was certainly not that. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. He was dead. He had been dead for years.

Thompson watched as Peggy flipped to the last page of the report. He saw her posture change as she read the page. Something caught her off guard. He could see it in the way she held herself. Something in that file derailed Peggy. Jack was surprised to see tears swimming in her eyes. "Carter?"

She closed the file and shook her head. "It wasn't me. I wasn't there." There was anger building in her voice.

 _She wasn't there. Maybe he was? N_ o, she pushed the thought from her mind. Michael was dead. _It couldn't have been him_.

Thompson was beginning to get frustrated with Peggy. He had her red handed and yet she was still denying that she was there. "Is that so?"

" _Yes_!" Her brown eyes burned with fury. She allowed herself to lose control of her temper. "This report is absolute rubbish!"

It had to be. There was no other way to explain it. There was no doubt that her brother's signature was on the report, but he had been dead years before the events that it covered took place.

 _It wasn't possible._

Peggy thrust the file and device into the Chief's hands. "Did you even bother looking at the signature? _You of all people_ should know it's not mine."

Jack took the items from Peggy and looked carefully at the final page of the report. She was right. It wasn't her handwriting. He was wrong. "Alright."

There was still one thing that didn't make sense to Jack. That signature, while it was not Peggy's belonged to someone important. He could tell that it bothered Peggy. She recognized it; he could see it in her eyes.

"Is that all, Chief Thompson?" Carter snapped. "Because if you are done wasting my time, I have more important things to attend to."

"I'm sure you do." He closed the file, tucked it under his arm, and studied her for a moment. Something in that file shook her to the core. She was putting up a brave face, but Jack could see the cracks forming. "Just one more thing."

"What might that be?" Peggy frowned. She did not have the time for this.

"Who is M. Carter?"

The question had its desired effect on Peggy. Her posture grew ridged and her gaze turned cold. "I have not the slightest clue."

Jack knew she was lying, but he didn't understand her motives. What was Peggy hiding? Who's ass was she covering? And why? It didn't make sense.

Peggy stood there for a moment and gathered her thoughts. She did not have time to mess with this right now. There were more important matters at hand.

"A word of advice, Chief Thompson." She regained her cool composure. Her voice held a venomous edge. She was done playing nice.

He bent down and picked his hat up off of the coffee table. He could take a hint. "What's that, Marge?"

"You don't need to cut corners to get ahead." Her lips curved upward, but her eyes weren't smiling. They burned with contempt. "You're better than that."

Jack frowned, but said no more. Her point was made. She turned on her heel and walked towards Jarvis and Sousa to get into all sorts of trouble. Jack knew there was no turning back for Carter now.

* * *

He remained there for a few minutes after they left. He really did not want to know what they were doing, and allowed himself some plausible deniability. While it turned out the pieces did not fit, something bothered him about the file. It was a real SOE file, despite what Carter said. He had requested the file long before Vernon asked for him to find something on Peggy.

It was not his proudest moment, Jack was man enough to admit that. That day in Sousa's office sent him to a dark place. He knew it was not right to call out Carter the way he did, but her response stung more than he could have ever anticipated. It actually scared him. _She had something on him_. And that something was much bigger than what many would consider a dirty little secret. And while she may have not meant to strike a nerve as hard as she did, her message was clear. It was a threat that he could not counter, and that scared him.

She was right about one thing though, that file was not about her. He was going to have a conversation with his friend in London about that later. Jack entertained the idea that this M. Carter was a relative of Peggy's, possibly a sibling, but her file indicated no next of kin. The closest thing that she had to a living family was Stark and his butler, to the best of his knowledge. Her parents perished in an automobile accident in '43, and there was no record of a sibling in her original file from the SOE.

Jack did not know why he was messing with this. The file was no longer any of his business, but something didn't sit right in his gut. If Peggy Carter was not there that day, then who was?

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 **Thanks for reading!**


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